Crist running mate Taddeo a nod to Miami-Dade voters

There is little evidence that any candidate for governor in Florida has ever won or lost a campaign based on their choice for lieutenant governor.

So on its face, Democrat Charlie Crist’s choice of Annette Taddeo as his running mate seems unlikely to shake up Florida’s governor’s race.

But the selection does show that Crist is investing a lot of effort building up a team with deep experience and knowledge of Miami-Dade, where Taddeo is the Democratic Party leader.

That is important because of one number: 41 percent.

Charlie Crist and Annette Taddeo

That is the election turnout in 2010 in Miami-Dade when Democrat Alex Sink ran against Scott. It was the second-worst turnout percentage in the state and 7 percentage points behind the state average.

More troubling for Democrats is that it was just one of 15 counties Sink won. She won all six of the state’s biggest urban counties, but turnout was so low in counties such as Miami-Dade, Sink still lost.

It did not help Sink’s cause in 2010 that she angered a big segment of the Democratic voting base by skipping a Miami-Dade NAACP campaign forum just as early voting began. Scott did not attend either, but his then-running mate Jennifer Carroll appeared while Sink and her running mate Rod Smith did not.

Enter Taddeo.

She has been praised by Democrats for her ability to fire up the Democratic base in Miami-Dade and run the organization like a business that focuses on raising money and turning out the vote.

Simply put, she knows Miami-Dade Democrats and will not repeat Sink’s fumble in the state’s largest county.

If Taddeo can even help increase voter turnout by 1 percent in Miami-Dade, that could mean an extra 11,000 voters at the polls. That may not seem like much in a state with 18 million voters. But in 2010, Scott beat Sink by 61,550 votes.

Scott clearly is also mindful of Miami-Dade. He showed that when he picked Carlos Lopez-Cantera in February as his new running mate.

Lopez-Cantera is from Miami as well.

Crist, meanwhile, is expected to be back in Sarasota on Wednesday. The Republican-turned-Democrat is scheduled to attend a pair of private Democratic fundraisers.

Campaigning on $172

General election day is four months away, yet the Democrats’ best hope to defeat U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan has just $172.66 in his campaign account to pull it off.

In new campaign finance reports, former NFL lineman Henry Lawrence, a Palmetto Democrat, reports that even though he raised more than $17,000 ($11,000 from himself) over the last three months, almost all of it has been spent, giving him little money to get his message out to the more than 480,000 voters who live in the 16th Congressional district.

Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, meanwhile has more than $740,000 in his campaign account.

The disparity shows part of the reason why national political watchers see little chance of Buchanan losing his re-election. Buchanan is seeking his fifth two-year term in Congress.

Buchanan also has an advantage in the district’s make-up. Of the 483,000 voters, more than 210,000 are registered Republicans, while 155,000 are registered Democrats. Just over 103,000 voters are registered with no political party.

The district includes all of Sarasota County and most of Manatee.

Buchanan’s cash-on-hand total gives him the seventh-most among candidates running for Congress. Check out the rest of the Top 10 at the Political Insider page on HTPolitics.com

Nelson on border crisis

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson does not think the Obama Administration fully recognizes the root cause of why so many children are streaming across the southwestern U.S. border.

Speaking on the Senate floor last Thursday, Nelson, a Democrat, said the administration has sent several high ranking officials to talk to Congress about the problems along the border, but they seem to be missing a key point.

“The problem simply is that we are not devoting the time and the resources, the money, to the interdiction of the big drug shipments coming out of South America into Central America,” Nelson said during his floor speech.

Nelson said as a result, drug lords have taken over in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

“And as a result of that drug violence of which there is very little law and order, you have the whole system corrupted, and with parents, with children, is it logical that they would want to send their children to a safer environment?” Nelson asked.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, more than 56,000 unaccompanied children from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have crossed the border this year.

Upcoming political events

Tuesday

• Candidates for Florida House District 74 and the Sarasota County Commission speak to the Nokomis Area Community Association at 7 p.m. at the Nokomis Community Center, 234 Nippino Tr., Nokomis.

• Byron Donalds, of the Florida SouthWestern State College Board of Trustees speaks to the Lakewood Ranch Republican Club at noon at the Lakewood Ranch Holiday Inn. cost is $20. For more information call 941-322-9164.

Jeremy Wallace

Jeremy Wallace has covered politics for more than 15 years.
He can be reached by email or call (941) 361-4966.
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Last modified: July 20, 2014
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